Mark had been in a daze since the fight. When he came to, he immediately noticed that he was somewhere else. There was an uninterrupted view of the blue sky, and mesh fence all around the area where he was resting. It looked like the roof of a tall building. Mark still had plenty of adrenaline in him and sat up quickly, gasping. There was no sign of Randy, or anyone else. But someone had to have moved Mark from the alley. A gust of wind came from behind him, and then he heard a strange noise. He quickly turned and found a hastily constructed wooden overhang that was providing shade for him.
"Did someone try to help me?"
Mark shifted his legs to stand, but found that he was weak. He got on one knee and rested for a minute before fulling raising himself off the floor. He dragged himself to the edge of the roof, and looked through the fence to the ground below. The place was fairly high up, and the sight of the distant earth below combined with his injuries made him feel disorientated. He went to sit back down, but started hear a noise. It sounded like footsteps on a ladder. Mark crouched down and took cover behind a large air vent.
Peering out from his cover, he saw a man in a somewhat unusual outfit climb onto the roof. He wore what looked like an expensive shirt and vest, it looked a little warm considering the weather.
Mark dived back behind the vent after taking a quick glance. He had no idea who this was, and the last person he saw did everything but kill him.
"I'm probably being hasty, but I will tell you now I'm not here to fight. I have no interest in this pointless affair."
Mark pressed his back up against the vent hoping that the man hadn't seen him.
"Yes, I am addressing you, the one behind the air circulation fan."
Mark knew he was caught and came out. He tried to look unafraid, but he was deeply worried. The man started to walk over, and Mark felt a chill in his legs, though he didn't move.
"Before it even gets started, I will tell you now. I am not a man, do not upset me by calling me one. I am Alexandria and I approached you because I've determined that you aren't interest in this senseless nonsense either."
Alexandria took Mark's lack of reaction as a result of surprise.
"Yes, there was selection method employed with these body exchanges besides chance. I take it that since you didn't know, you were lucky enough to keep your original gender."
It had only happened twice but Mark was tired of being called a girl. He wanted to shout no, but he developed a pain in his side as he went to speak. Mark bent over clutching his side, Alexandria came over to help.
"Just lay down. Unfortunately I don't have anything to help you but the people behind this fiasco seem to care about these bodies. They will probably heal you when they call us back to the lab for maintenance."
She got up folded her arms.
"In any case, there is only one course of action to take in this situation. I won't stand to be a part of this bothersome ordeal. We need to find everyone who is like minded and form an alliance. Hopefully, we'll be able to find a way out of this. If that proves impossible, we will probably have to attempt to make one of ourselves the 'winner' so that we can make use of the promised prize."
She walked over to the edge of the roof and lightly kicked the fence.
"But I have my doubts about these people."
She turned back to Mark.
"Speaking of fighting, it didn't seem like you were very capable. This will not help our chances. I suspect that you haven't discovered any abilities yet."
Mark raised his head and squeaked out his one word reply,
"Abilities?"
"When the man from the laboratory mentioned enhanced bodies, he was not solely referring to our increased strength and endurance compared to normal humans. At least some of us have other traits."
Alexandria stepped forward and knelt down, extending her open hand.
"Place your fingers just above mine, so that they are almost touching, but not quite."
Mark complied.
"Now try to touch my fingers with yours in anyway you can."
Mark, not knowing what to expect simply moved a finger down. Alexandria moved one of hers, avoiding contact. Mark looked up confused.
"Keep trying."
Mark tried again, this time but this time he tried to distract her with one finger and move in with the other. She avoided him again. Mark began to try all sorts of tricks such as stopping only to immediately move again or twitching to get a false movement. Nothing worked, but what was surprising was that no matter what happened, Alexandria maintained the same exact distance between her fingers and Marks, as if she knew exactly when he was going to move.
"How are you so fast? Are you reading my mind?"
"You noticed. It is not mind reading, I can accelerate my thought processes, at least that was the conclusion I have reached. It was how I saved you from that man. I raised my senses to their highest and managed to sneak in, then I deflected his punch and knocked his elbow in so that he would drop you."
"How did you find us?"
"I also have one other trait, an extra sense. I can't really explain it, but that man was giving off some kind of signal. So were you, and there were even more farther in the background. I think that the man has some ability like photosynthesis, his signal was strong at first when he was high up, but when he went down into the alley, it got weaker. Fortunately, he did not notice."
"How do you know so much?"
Mark was getting a little suspicious.
"Perhaps I've said too much and don't sound trustworthy. What I know, I know by experience and deduction. Ever since I woke up in this form, I've been bombarded with my extra sense. I did not discover my ability to alter my mental state until later, but I was lucky in that I had a rare moment of panic, which caused me to activate the ability when I tried to calm myself. Everything else I guessed on my own. That is my explanation, take it or leave it."
The two looked at each other for a moment. Mark was unsettled by Alexandria's apparent familiarity with everything, but he didn't like the idea of being on his own, especially with people like Randy running about. For now, he would trust her.
"How do I find out what my abilities are?"
"I don't know, but first, you must learn to fight."
Mark got up to protest, but the pain at his side returned and hindered him to a degree.
"I know how to fight, I was just caught off guard."
Alexandria gave him a strange look, then turned around.
"If you say so. Get some more rest, I don't want to stay here for long. We need to find others."
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author
